This year's seventh all-star gathering, Saturday at the National Orange Show Pavilion in San Bernardino, should have been one of the most exciting stops on this summer's fest circuit, thanks to top talent like Snoop Dogg, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim and KRS-One playing their classic albums in their entirety, plus a rare West Coast visit from Ms. Lauryn Hill (above, and yes, that's how she's being billed these days).

Unfortunately, due to major mistakes on the part of organizers, it was instead a near-nightmarish scenario, defined not by top tunes but by interminable waits (the line to pick up tickets alone took at least two hours), unbearable heat (though that can't really be blamed on Guerilla Union) and a messy vendor payment system that was nearly as irresponsible as it was frustrating.

Most frustrating of all, though? This whole thing is totally improvable. Here are some suggestions ...

Let people pay with cash: Someone thought it'd be a good idea to make everyone in the audience buy "Event Cards" -- pre-paid and chip-embedded credit-card type things that were the only way to buy food or drinks at the fest. Surely the idea was dreamed up by someone who was thinking about exploiting a profit margin that apparently wasn't quite large enough -- because $12.50 for a beer is totally reasonable, right?